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AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL LIT- 

 ERATURE. 



By E. L. STURTEVANT. 



The history of a literature la the history of a 

 people 1 Tbe habits of thought and the methods 

 of work are all embalmed somewhere in books, 

 and an examination of these last should give a 

 correct understanding of the people among 

 whom they originated. The past century in 

 America has been productive of vast changes, 

 and progress has been at times so rapid as to ob- 

 scure many of the details of its course. 



The people, an offshoot from many lands, oc- 

 cupying a new country, abounding in those pos- 

 sibilities which but required energy to develop, 

 have from small beginnings become a great em- 

 pire, wherein material progress has kept in ad- 

 vance of the intellectual. Hence its literature 

 has been a peculiar one, and well represents the 

 phases amongst which it has originated. 



The American book 1 The American agricult- 

 ural book ! Have we any such ? The question 

 is a pertinent one, and must be answered with 

 caution. Our ancestors brought with them to 

 this land an European training, and an European 

 method of thought, and taught their children 

 the same. 



For many years the minds of the cultured 

 turned to Europe for their inspiration, and the 

 United States achieved its political independence 

 long before it did its intellectual independence. 

 Hence an earlier literature is mostly founded on 

 foreign models. 



Our authors made books from foreign author- 

 ity, or under foreign influences. The discussions 

 of new methods usually originated abroad and 

 were broadly transferred to our shores without 

 discrimination and by an ambitious rather than 

 a practical intellect. The motto of practice with 

 science was either unknown, or quietly ignored, 

 judging as we must authors results, rather than 

 their claims. 



Indeed, up to within comparatively a few 

 years, our American agricultural books could be 

 counted on the fingers of one hand, and even 

 now scarcely would the two hands be required. 

 Indeed, the majority of the American agricult- 

 ural books which have issued from our home 

 presses, have been esteemed too worthless for 

 accumulation on our library shelves ; of too little 

 value even, for the individual collector. A few 

 works on fruits, a few books on the garden, a 

 very few special treaties on special subjects, a 

 book or so on the horse, a veterinary volume of 

 recent issue, and our list is nearly complete. 



Had the time been given me, it would have 

 been a privilege and a pleasure to note the 

 books, the history of their authors, and their 

 literary character and claims, indeed, of all the 

 accessible writings which have been published in 

 America. But such a plan requires, in justice, a 

 more careful elaboration than my time for 

 preparation will allow of, and a mere enumera- 

 tion would afford but dry reading and very 

 little information. As an indication of their 

 number, I will only say that I have already cat- 

 alogued some 5,000 authors of books or essays in 

 the English language, and have many more in 

 the rough, not as yet systematically arranged, 

 and probably have overlooked many. 



We may distinguish three eras in our agricult- 

 ural literature : The era of the book, the era of 

 the state and official or society publication, and 

 the era of the newspaper 1 As I consider the 

 second the most strictly American in its influ- 

 ences on the progress of our country and on 

 other writings, I propose to limit myself to this 

 branch. 



It is not true that America was the first to is- 

 sue governmental or society publications, but it 



is true that such as she has issued, and they are 

 many, have had an influence upon the commu- 

 nity as being largely composed of the experi- 

 ences of those who were too uncultured for fine 

 writing, and too unlearned to seek inspiration 

 from abroad. Hence, being oftentimes common- 

 place, and yet with an occasional attempt at 

 something more original, they have not only 

 been educators of the people to a certain extent, 

 but their vast importance in training an observ- 

 ing and ambitious class, whose writings in turn 

 have influenced others, has been almost com- 

 pletely overlooked. The great and most valua- 

 ble historic feature of this class of writings has 

 been in their affording an outlet for those of the 

 farming, or amateur farming public, who bad 

 desires to write tar ahead of their ability. These 

 publications were in fact the school wherein a 

 public was being educated, and preliminary to 

 the era of the newspaper, which now in many 

 respects has taken their place. These publica- 

 tions had also another influence. They brought 

 before the farmer and disseminated the discov- 

 eries and 'the writings of scientific men, either 

 through transcripts or compilations, and thus 

 not only instructed, but spurred their readers to 

 a thought, often, I am sorry to believe, the pro- 

 duct of the spirit of denial. Additional to these 

 purposes served by them, they also furnished a 

 place for the original work of the few students 

 of agricultural science, and not only gave their 

 articles a perpetuation, but encouraged the ef- 

 forts of others. These publications may be de- 

 scribed as an oUa podrida of the good, bad and 

 indifferent, the articles both in number and 

 quality standing in this order. To be classical, 

 we may well quote an epigram of Martial, "'sunt 

 bona, sunt quoedam mediocria, sunt mala plura, 

 guoe legte." Some irood, more bad, some neither 

 one nor t'other. 



The earlier publications seem more valuable 

 than later ones, and the later ones more valuable 

 than those which precede them, and this is a? 

 we should suppose. At first the product of en- 

 thusiasm and of the earnest, hard work of the 

 few, their articles were not only less abundant 

 but more carefully considered ; yet even here 

 dependence on foreign thought is very manifest. 

 The intermediate volumes of these publications 

 are extremely miscellaneous, and give character 

 to the whole. They are not the less valuable in 

 their influence on the thought of their time, 

 however little merit they may possess from a 

 critical view. The later volumes commence to 

 be Americanized in thought, and are gradually 

 taking their place as repositories of knowledge 

 and thought, leaving their miscellaneous con 

 tributors of the past to the newspapers, which 

 have so wondrously increased in number. 



Another thought is in place here. Although 

 this era of the society pamphlets is a recent one, 

 yet we can trace its various phases, by viewing 

 its present position in the newer states. We can 

 also underrate its importance and Influence by 

 ignoring the many local societies and their many 

 annual pamphlets, and even the like influences 

 of societies which have issued no printed matter. 

 Space, however, forbids us to mention other 

 than the state or sectional results, although our 

 opinions may be unconsciously to ourselves 

 modified by the local viewings. 



We will proceed to review our ground by 

 states, and in the order of the date of their first 

 work. In our older states, it will be observed, 

 that our remarks hold truer than in the newer 

 ones, as they have proceeded farther in the de- 

 velopment of their agricultural thought. 



Pennsylvania has the honor of heading our 

 list. This great state with a fertile soil and im- 

 mense resources and peaceful in the earlier 

 times, through the Avisdom of Penn had op- 

 portunity to develop its resources while yet 

 the Great West was unknown, and the rnoro 

 sterile Bast was but a line on the seaboard, with 



